Springy mattress support



Jan. 27,1970 RO ETAL 3,491,381

SPRINGY MATTRESS SUPPORT Filed July 9, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1. 3

' Jan. 27, 1970 I E ET AL 3,491,384

' SPRINGY MATTRESS SUPPORT Filed July 9. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2") Fig.3

United States Patent 3,491,384 SPRINGY MATTRESS SUPPORT Franz Hero and Karl Odermatt, both of Im Baumgarten, 8630 Tann-Ruti, and Walter Miiller, Im Hofli, 8714 Feldbach, all of Zurich, Switzerland Filed July 9, 1968, Ser. No. 743,355 Claims priority, application Switzerland, July 11, 1967, 9,852/ 67 Int. Cl. A47c 19/02 US. Cl. -191 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mattress support has a springy wood-lath grid and a series of longitudinally extending wavelike plywood laths attached to the undersurface of the cross laths of the grid, the wavelike laths supporting the mattress support on a bed plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a springy mattress support comprising elastic laths, and which can be placed on a bed plate.

Mattress supports of this general kind are known in the prior art, but they often lack the necessary and desirable springiness and/ or are complicated in design and expensive to manufacture and/or are insufl'lciently robust.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The purpose of the present invention is to provide a mattress support that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, has a desirable and uniform elasticity, and is not damaged by concentrated loads.

An object of the present invention is a mattress support comprised of a grid of springy laths, and of a series of spaced wavelike laths extending the length of the mattress support.

This object and others of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention will be described, with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a part of the mattress support according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in section taken along line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of the mattress support shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an elastic connector; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a connection made using the connector illustrated in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The mattress support illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is intended to be laid on a flat bed plate 1 (see FIG. 2), which can form part of the bedstead, or bed frame, not shown. The mattress support incorporates a series of longitudinally extending springy parallel wood laths 2, which on their undersides are glued to parallel wood cross laths 3 that preferably have the same cross sectional dimensions as the laths 2. The lath grating formed by the laths 2 and 3 serves as the support for the mattress, not shown. In accordance with the invention, the laths 2 and 3 can also be made of synthetic plastic or metal.

Springy wavelike parallel laths 4, made of glued plywood are located between the cross laths 3 and the bed plate 1. The laths 4 can also be made of metal or syn- Patented Jan. 27, 1970 thetic plastic. The wavelike laths 4 are connected at the tops of their undulations to the cross laths 3 by means of intermediate elastomeric, such as rubber, connectors 5. The undersides of the bottoms of the laths 4, which support the mattress support on the bed plate 1, are provided with elastomeric, such as rubber, or felt pads, in order to avoid sliding and squeaking. Small elastomeric, such as rubber, block supports 7 are connected to the outermost laths 3 of the mattress support. The undulations of neighboring laths 4 are staggered half a cycle, so that any given cross lath 3 is connected to an undulation top of every other lath 4, whereas the undulation bottom of the lath in between is connected to the bed plate at a point vertically below the given lath 3.

FIG. 3 shows the simplest kind of a connector 5 for connecting together the cross laths 3 and the wavelike laths 4. The blockshaped connector is made in this instance of foam rubber and glued between the laths 3 and 4.

In accordance with the invention, it is advantageous that the connector for the laths 3 and 4 have a special shape, as shown in FIG. 4, for example. The connector 5 embodies two T-shaped channels 8 and 9 running at right angles to each other, for accepting the laths. In FIG. 5 is illustrated a connection between a cross lath 3 and a lath 4, using the connector shown in FIG. 4. A connector of this kind permits a mutual lateral shifting between the laths of more than four millimeters. This freedom is essential, because the laths 4 are stretched and consequently somewhat lengthened when the mattress support elastically deflects.

The rubber or felt pads 6 and the supports 7 can be similarly made with a T-shaped channel for connection to the respective lath.

The described mattress support, together with a mattress, particularly one of natural-rubber or snythetic-plastic foam, results in a relatively soft, uniform sprniginess, the local deflection being greater Where the weight is greater, so that the body as a whole is held straight. The wavelike laths 4 are advantageously made so thin that under heavy load, as, for example, when the entire weight of the body is concentrated over a small area, they are pressed fiat against the bed plate 1.

The mattress support can be made in two parts in a known manner, thus having a separate head part, which rests on the head part of the bed plate, the head part of which latter can be swung upwards. In this form, at least the head part of the mattress support is preferably glued to its part of the bed plate.

What is claimed is:

1. A springy mattress support made of elastic laths, for laying on a bed plate, wherein the improvement com prises a series of spaced longitudinal laths extending the length of the mattress suport, a series of spaced cross laths extending at right angles to said longitudinal laths and connected thereto to form a grid therewith, a series of spaced wavelike laths extending the length of the mattress suport and located beneath said cross laths, each said wavelike lath incorporating a plurality of regularly repeating undulations, each latter having a top and a bottom, and elastic connecting means positioned between said cross laths and wavelike laths at the tops of said undulations of the latter for connecting together said cross laths and wavelike laths.

2. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein said wavelike laths are made of glued plywood.

3. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein said wavelike laths are made of synthetic plastic.

4. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein the bottoms of said undulations of said wavelike laths support the mattress support on the bed plate, and ineluding intermediate means associated with each bottom of said wavelike laths and positioned between the bottom and the bed plate.

5. The mattress support as defined in claim 4, wherein said intermediate means is connected to the underside of a respective bottom and is made of an elastomer.

6. The mattress suport as defined in claim 4, wherein said intermediate means is connected to the underside of a respective bottom and is made of felt.

7. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, including an individual said connecting means for each connection, and wherein said connecting means are made of an elastomer and incorporate an upper surface ad a lower surface, said upper and lower surfaces each having a channel therein that runs at right angles to the other channel, for respectively accepting one of said cross laths and the top of an undulation of one of said wavelike laths.

8. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein the undulations of a said wavelike lath lie in a substantially vertical plane.

9. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein a single said wavelike lath is located between two neigh= boring said longitudinal laths.

4 10. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein each top of an undulation of every said wavelike lath is connected to a respective said cross lath.

11. The mattress support as defined in claim 1, wherein the undulations of neighboring said wavelike laths are shifted one-half of an undulation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 2671 

